William b



f tutes identit @ffice @irrite-hi'.

WILLIAM B. DURANT, 0F CAMBRIDGE,`MASSA@nusnuirs.l

Letters Patent No. 79,559, dated lJuly/7, 1868.

IMrnovEMsNT `1N WATER-METERS.

TO ALL PERSONS TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS MAY COME: e

Beit known that I, WILLIAM B. DUBANT, of Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex, and State of Massa. chusetts,fhav e invented a new and useful Water Meter; land I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specificationl and represented inthe accompanying drawings, f which- AFigure 1 is a longitudinalsection, and l A Figures 2 and 3 transversesections of it.

Figure 4 is a top view of the escapement used in it, and to be -here inafter'described.

Figure 5 is a'top view of the-receiving-pan, itsdivisional annulus, and movable trough.'

Figure 6 is aside'view of the meter-case. l

The principle on which 4my invention is based consists, tirst,.in dividing the water, so asrto obtain a certain aliquot part of the whole, and next measuringthat part. The part taken for measurement we willA consider to A be onesixteenthof the whole which may pass-through the meter.

The case, A, -of the meter is a strong air vandsfrater-ti'ght box. The water enters through an induction-v pipe, a, which passes through the side of the me ter,'and then rises vertically upward until it enters a at horizontal cmpar'tment, B, arranged at the upper part of the metepcase. On the un'der side of this compartment, and opening out of it,` are sixteen small vertical tubes,- b, Stel, (the diameter of cach being about one-fourth of that'of the induction-pipe) which are tobe .distributed around the circumference, -whose centre is vertically above the centre'of a at,'squarepan, C, arranged immediately below the pipes. The radius of the circle of ppesis such that the water, as it descends from the .sixteen pipes, will fall upon the pan outside of a.l divisional hoop or annulus, D, which surrounds the` centre of thcvpan. 'Some one of the sixteen tubes, however, will be always over a narrow receiver or troughed arm, E, which, Awhen in operation, rotates about the centre of the pau C, and reaches beyond the hoop. The'waterfrom that tube which may be over the trough E will b'e discharged into the trough,l(\vhose width is the distance between the tubes,) and he discharged by a pipe, e,'leading from the-trough. .Such water will fall inside of the hoop, orlinto the space F enclosed thereby. The rear side, f, of the square pau C of the meter ismade lowerthap the other three sides of such pan, and does not iit tightly to the next adjacent side of themeter-case, but a space is left between the-pan and the said side of the meter-case.

When the' water is running through the mcterwith its full force, more' than-half of the whole amount, after falling upon the pan, passes down through this vacant space to the bottom ofthe meter without being employed at all; but when the water isrunning through with less than half its greatest force, 011 thereabouts, all. the water received n pon the pan,vand which comesfrom fifteen of the tubes, passesl down through -a tube, g, leading from the pan near the side which is lower than the others. Another tube, 7L, is set in the pan, inside of the hoop, and these two tubes, g and h, are in the same s traightline with each other and the centre of the pan. I i

have stated that the water from one of thc sixteen tubes was conducted by the receiver to the space F inside of the hoop. My object is to malievthe portion which goes inside of the hoop e'xactly one-sixteenth of 'the whole amount which passes through the sixteen pipes. It is obvious that this can be deine if the receiver-can be made to stay an equal-timeunder each of thc sixteen tubes, for, when it has made one complete revolution, the erro'rs will all balance each other, and the'sum of thecontributions to the hoop will be `just one-sixteenth of the whole amount which has passed through the tubes during a complete revolution`of`the trough or receiver E. This object is eifectad in the following way: Under the pail are two' tilting-vessels, G H, of similar constructionandl si-ze, fastened together, each having .two compartments, k, and turning upon the same axis, which axis is directly under the line of the two'tubesg hset'in the pan. The diagram marked Figure 7 in the drawings may be supposed to exhibit atransverse section of one of these vessels, the other being similar.

A B C and B C D, in such iig. 7, nrc tw compartments separated by the partition B C, and turning upon an axis, of which C is the centre. When the compartment A B G is so full that thc-weight of water causes the vessel to turn upon its axis, the vessel will turnland come in the position A B C', as shown in Figure 8, and the tube h will be over the other compartment C D. When that is=i`ull, the vessel will be moved back toits first position.

It will be noticed that of these two vessels G H,(each having two compartments,) the one nearest the front end of the meter isunder the tube h, which leads from the hoop, vand the-otl1er-has its axis under thetube g leading from the pan. The receiver, E, previously described, is fastened toon upright shaft, Z, which passes through the centro of `the pan. Below the pan an escape-wheel,m, is attachedto the shaft Z, such wheel having eight teeth to be operated'by an escapement, in, of somewhat peculiar'construction, having its arms o o so made that, when either of them is on the wheel, it .will block it after moving it, so-that it cannot be moved until the water acts upon the vessel again, for, upon one of the vessels G H, just described, (it matters not which, as they move together,)two projections, p g, are placed, which, as the vessel moves when filled with water, alterward half a tooth,' or, as the wheel has eight teeth, just one-sixteenth of a revolution. 'lhen it will be found that the receiver has` departed from that tooth under which it was before, and has gone tothe next one. With the next movement of thevessel the escapement moves back, and the receiver passes on and under the next nately strike an arm or lever, 1', and thereby move the escapement, and caus the lescape-wheel to move forvtube, and so'on` throughout the, series of :tubes b, Src. Now, asthe water in these two vessels, G H, (attached together,)that is, as much as is necessary to make them move, is a certain definite quantity, it will'take a certain deinte time to supply that quantity from the tubes leading from the hoop and the pan. And whether the supplyof water from the sixteen tubes `be abundant, or merelycomes drop by drop from only one'of the sixteen, in all cases, as between theseveral tubes, the receiver will stay unequal time-under each, whetherthat time be long or short, thusgiving just one -siteenth of'a'll the water to the-hoop, and thence to the vessel nearest the front end of the meter. '.lhe'wate'from the other vessel -falls directly upon the lloorof the meter, but the sixteenth to be measured is discharged fromthe nearest vessel, H, into a box, `I, directly under it. So far the 'process has been simply the division of the water.

The siirteenth gnantityjof luid which we have thus divided oi will be conducted from thebox just mentioned by 'an orice,a, in the middle thereof,into a measuring-vessel, K', below, of preciselysimilar construction to either of the vessels G H. Extending from the bottom of this vessel Klare two' arms, or a notched plate, L, working a crank, M, whose shaft, N, comes through the front to the outsideot the meter, and so as to connect with a registering-machanism, (not seen in the'drawings,) which'shonld be so made as to register the number of times that the measuring-vessel may be filled and emptied,

From. the vessel K, just described, the water falls upon the door or-bottom of the meter-case. As soon as the water upon the said' bottom rises above the level of the eduction-pipe u, no air can pass out of such pipo, and, of course, no aircun go back through the induction-pipe, for, in so doing, it `would have to-descend through water in the vertical pipe, which is impossible. Tho 'water will therefore continue rising uponv the floor or bottom of the case until the pressure oi" the vcondensed air in the meter is equal to the pressure or head-of the water, in which case the dow wiILcease until tbeednctionspipe is `opcned, as it would be in drawing water, when thepressnre of the confined air will drive out some of the water, and-more water will come in to takeits place. It will be noticed that the head of-the water is not lost or impaired by thejoperation of the meter, as vthe elasticity of the'compressed air will'. drive ont the 'water with the same -force as that with which it was itselt` compressed. The outsidecase of the mete;` must be made deep eno'ugh to allow space for the condensation The reason why I employ-'the auxiliary vessel H under the tube h, fastened to the vessel G under the tube g, is the following: I I l When different and irregular quantities of water are falling from each of the sixteen tubes, it will sometimes happen that the receiving-trough is under atnbe which discharges no water at all, or merely a drop or two at intervals. Then the vessel H comes into play, and,-when iilled, moves the eseapement, and carries the `trough on to the `next pipe, whereas without it the trough lmight have remained a long time under the tube which discharged little or no water, thus introducing a great irregularity in the divisional process. Again, when Vonly one oi` thc-tubes is ilowing, and that one over the receiving-trough, all the water will pass into the vessel G through the Ytube g, but as G is fastened to the auxiliary vessel H, the two together turn in exactly the same-time thatA they will turn-,in the next oscillation, when thevessel H will get all the water, and the vessel G will get none until the receiving-troughY has made a complete revolution, (under the same hypothesis, that only one of the sixteen is discharging.) Thus, in this case, we get just one-sixteenth'of the whole amount, whereas, without the combination of the vessels G and H, we should eithei get none at all or else get the whole amount into our measuringapparatus, eitherl event being equally unfortunate. The combination of thevessels G H therefore comes intouse in correcting th'e irregularities of the several sixteen tubes, when the flow of water is small. But whcn'lthe water is running through the Vmeter with its greatest force, the sixteen tubos will discharge usually a nearly equal amount, and the-vessel H is -of little use, but even then, if the tube over the trough should discharge more or less than the others, the addition of a constant uniform ilow from the tube h into the vessel H, to lfelp in turning tho combined vessels Gand H, will be of great assistance in keeping the trough unequal time under oach of the sixteen tubes.

I am aware-of the inveptiou-dcscribed in Letters Patent No. 76,690, and make no claim to any portion thereof, meaning specially not to claim the combination of a pan, -a tilting-vessel, a crank, a pawl, a ratchet, a conducting-shaft, and a hollow iron or spout, as such parts are constructed, arranged, and combined in manner and for the purpose or purposes indicated in such patent; but

In the -hcreinbefore-described meter, I claim as my invention thc following, viz

I claim the combination of the recoiving-chamberB, provided with a'series of discharging-tubes b, as described, the pan C, the chamber F, the discharging-tubo la, the receiver E provided with a pipe to discharge into the chamber F, and one or.moro tilting-vessels, H, placed underneath-or below the tube, and to operate as described.

Islsoclaim the combination of 'the above, and mechanism, substantially as described, for eecting theintermittent rotary motion of the receiver E, as and for the purpose described, such mechanism being the projectionsp q, ch-e shft l, scape-wheel m, escapement n, and arm, lr, the wholev being substantially as specified.

I also claim the combination and arrangement of the box I, provided with an orifice, s,A with tilting-vessels H and K`, combined and to operate with the chamber B, its tube b, the pan C, the chamber-'Rend the receiver E, in manner substantially as described.' v

I also claim thecombination and nrrangementro'f the auxiliary tiltingvessel and its induction-tube g, with the vessel H,the pan G, the -space or chamber F, the receiver and the chamber B provided with the series of discharge-tubes b, to operateas described, the vessels G andH being fastened. together, so as to move simultaneously and in the same manner, as and for vthe pnrp'ose explained'. y

' WM. B. DURANT.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE', Jr. 

